Free WiFi Worldwide (well sort of)

Love Starbucks or hate Starbucks, they are everywhere. With stores in 54 countries, spanning four continents and a sub-continent, it is hard to not spot a Starbucks. Throughout most Starbucks locations you can find public WiFi spots to sit down, log on and surf the web.

How does any of this tie into getting free WiFi around the world? Simple, sign up for Starbucks Card Rewards and you can activate your card with two free hours of WiFi per day at Starbucks.

In the United States this offer is through AT&T, despite the vast majority of Starbucks locations still primarily offering T-Mobile WiFi hotspots. While the offer may vary from country to country, Starbucks customer service tells me the ability to access your two free hours per day should be available to all Starbucks Card Rewards users who use their Starbucks.com account and use that account to log on.

The cost of the Starbucks Card Rewards? Free. Want to customize your card? It is US$4.00. You can top-up the card, you can leave it bare, but you can still get your 2 hours of WiFi free per day. The only catch is that you muse use your Starbucks card at lease once per month.

Last week I came home and found a greeting card containing a personalized Starbucks Card Rewards card in my mailbox. What does my card have on it? A picture of ‘me’ holding a passport in a city.

While I do not drink coffee, I find myself in Starbucks all over the world…….almost always sitting down to log on and use the internet. From Frankfurt to Hong Kong, I have always been able to find a store when I want to read the news, send an e-mail home or transmit photos to clients via an FTP site.

About Me

Fish has been covering aviation and transportation security issues since September 15, 2001, after walking away from Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan following four days of documenting the worst aviation security disaster in history.

Having spent more than a decade-and-a-half as a full-time photojournalist, Fish now divides his time between building social media and social commerce strategies and solutions for global travel brands, along with researching aviation and transportation security.

Growing up at the end up New York's JFK International Airport's Runway 4R/22L probably explains Fish’s enjoyment of watching planes fly overhead. When not working or shooting photos, Fish can be found playing with (and cleaning up after) his three kids, chasing his dogs, standing in the kitchen cooking, monitoring radios public safety and federal radios and of course cheering for the Red Sox.

You can find Fish on Twitter at @flyingwithfish …and … join Fish every Thursday at 3:30pm EST as he hosts the weekly #TNI #Travel Chat on Twitter.